TSA Agent To Reporter: What Is This “District Of Columbia” You Speak Of?

In a far off land called the District of Columbia, there lives an entire population of people who are considered Americans and as such, have the proper identification noting that fact. But one Transportation Security Administration agent in Orlando may need a brush-up on the makeup of these United States, after reportedly not realizing that a reporter’s Washington D.C. license is a valid form of ID.

It just so happened that the traveler who faced the confused agent is a Cox reporter for WFTV in Orlando, which means the slip-up made the local news.

Reporter Justin Gray lives in D.C. and was flying out of Orlando International Airport over the weekend. He says he handed over his D.C. license to the agent at a security checkpoint, who seemed confused and then asked for his passport.

He didn’t have it — because who brings extra ID when you’ve got an up-to-date form already? — so he asked why the agent needed it.

That’s when the agent admitted he didn’t recognize the license, Gray says, and during a quick chat, he realized the worker didn’t know what the District of Columbia is. He eventually made it through security and told a supervisor.

A TSA spokesman Tweeted back to Gray a few minutes after he wrote about the problem, and confirmed that yes, people in the District of Columbia can use their licenses as ID at the airport. Your first grade teacher would agree.

“Officers are trained to identify fraudulent documents, which can potentially deter and detect individuals attempting to circumvent this layer of security,” the spokesman said, adding that all TSA agents in Orlando will now be shown copies of the D.C. driver’s license for future reference.